Another Head Hangs Lowly
by PimpedOutGreenEars
Summary: Zombie AU. "Killua was the whole world and a scratch from a zombie hadn't changed that—won't change that." Oneshot. Light GonxKillua.


**Another Head Hangs Lowly**

 **Author's Note: Basically I saw other people writing zombie au's and I got jealous because it looked fun, so then I did this. Which from a reader's standpoint is probably not so fun, but hey, what can ya do? Title is from the song Zombie by The Cranberries. Anyway, let me know what you think!**

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Gon doesn't register the groaning sound that fills the air around him, too concentrated on getting the grime out of Killua's hair without removing any of the white tufts. Recently that has become a massive challenge, but Gon doesn't mind.

He washes Killua's hair gently, using the soap he'd made from wild plants his aunt had taught him about before the world had been taken over by the disease. He's careful not to pull at any of the strands of Killua's hair, knowing from experience how easy it will fall out.

He wonders if there's anything he can do about it. Four days ago he'd found a dead deer and he'd been feeding Killua with it since, hoping that the extra food would make him healthier. Make the hair stop falling out. But thus far it'd only seemed to aggravate Killua's hunger.

In front of him Killua groans again, turning to face him and biting down on Gon's shoulder with his toothless gums.

"I'm sorry, KIllua. I was just thinking; I didn't mean to ignore you," Gon apologizes as he lifts Killua's mouth from his shoulder.

When he pushes Killua away he is faced with empty, milky blue eyes and an open, groaning mouth. But Gon doesn't see that—won't let himself see it. In front of him is Killua, his best friend in the whole world. The one who'd been with him since before the disease had started. The one who'd been with him _after_. Killua was the person fighting beside him and the one sleeping next to him. Killua was the whole world and a scratch from a zombie hadn't changed that—won't change that.

Gon rinses Killua's hair by wringing water out of a blood stained t-shirt he'd dipped in the stream. Killua doesn't put up much of a fight, only dragging nail-less fingers across Gon's chest. Gon remembers when Killua's nails had felt sharp as knives, but that was before Gon had pulled them all out of the skin, just as he had pulled teeth out of Killua's gums.

The last time they had shared a conversation where Killua had replied in more than groaning, it had been about pulling out his teeth. Killua had gotten scratched right down the center of his chest, ambushed as he and Gon were running from a horde of them. Killua had called it bad luck. Even when the sickness became impossible to ignore, that's what he'd called it. He'd then asked Gon to kill him. To kill him and then find other people to start a life with.

Gon had told him unceremoniously that he was going to rip all of his teeth out when he died. Killua had joked about his fever getting too high and causing hallucinations even though he'd known Gon was serious.

They'd argued about it for a short moment, but in the end Killua had given in. Killua always gave in when Gon was the one asking. All he'd wanted was for Gon to pull the teeth while he was alive so that he wouldn't bite.

Killua had done his best not to scream as the expensive crown topped teeth had been ripped from his mouth, but even someone as used to pain as Killua wasn't immune such a procedure. Killua's final moments had been filled with tears and blood and the sweetest words Gon could formulate as he put his best friend through an unsurmountable amount of pain.

But it wasn't for nothing. Because someday there will be a cure, and Gon will give it to Killua. And after that everything will be okay. Gon will cut Killua's food small for him so he doesn't have to chew it, and he'll scratch Killua's back for hours if he wants. He'll take care of him, just like he is now.

Gon releases Killua's head and his mouth once again goes to gum against Gon's shoulder, as his arms move around Gon's waist.

Gon doesn't stop him, only moves his own arms so that he's hugging Killua. He misses when hugs with Killua were warm, but he doesn't complain because Killua is still here and it feels like he's being hugged back.

Gon lets out a sigh, along with the tension from the day. Lets out the bad feeling he'd been carrying since earlier in the day when he'd killed three people who'd tried to kill Killua. He hadn't had a choice- it was them or Killua. But it'd still left a bad taste in his mouth. Like somehow he should have been able to explain to them that Killua was still Killua, that he wasn't a monster.

That he was Gon's best friend in the world.

But some things couldn't be explained. So Gon had killed them instead.

Killua raises his head from Gon's shoulder and groans in his face as though frustrated that he can't bite into Gon's skin. But Gon doesn't look at it like that—his brain won't let him. He'd fall completely apart.

Instead he smiles. "I love you too, Killua."

And he ignores the smell that can only be explained by the rotting of Killua's corpse.


End file.
